Video: James Brum wants to show Abiltarov a 'legit fighter' at Cage Warriors 58

Bantamweight James Brum has experienced the highs and lows of taking a step up in competition, and when he enters the cage with Ruslan Abiltarov at Cage Warriors 58, he intends to pass along his knowledge to the youngster.

Brum (12-2) and Abiltarov (10-3) are scheduled to face each other in one of the featured bouts at Saturday’s event, which takes place at Olympisk Arena in Grozny, Chechnya. The main will stream live on MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) following prelims on Facebook at 11:45 a.m. ET.

Despite the fact they have a similar number of professional fights, Brum believes the level of competition he has faced throughout his career isn’t even comparable to that of Abiltarov.

“Who can say that they’ve fought their last several fights against five top European fighters?” Brum told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “They’re not in the European top 10 anymore, but that’s because I knocked them out of it. The same is going to happen with this guy. He’s 10-3, he’s the local boy and now he’s going to fight a legit fighter and he’s going to find out in a big way on Saturday.”

Brum is quite familiar with the jump from fighting local talent with subpar records to athletes who are training year-round to compete up to the standards of a promotion such as Cage Warriors.

While Abiltarov was able to take out his past three opponents by knockout or submission, Brum believes fighters on his level are much more difficult to put away, a point proven by his past six fights going the distance.

Nevertheless, the 26-year-old believes what the organizational newcomer brings to the table is no match for his skills, and he will snap that streak of decisions with a decisive finish.

“It’s the level of competition, I think is one thing – it’s the level of fighters,” Brum said of his recent string of decisions. “If you look at those records, I think three of them were 30-25 scorecards, so they’re dominant wins. I’m going out there to finish. I kind of know I have to finish this Russian – it’s what’s expected of me, and that’s what I want to go and do.”

Brum will be traveling into hostile territory for his sixth Cage Warriors appearance, as Abiltarov is from nearby Ukraine and should have a lot of local support.

While some may view him as a fighter brought in to lose in order to send the hometown fans home happy, Brum bleives that situation is all too familiar in the MMA world and he isn’t going to allow himself to be Abiltarov’s stepping stone to bigger things.

“There’s a lot of people out there, a lot of fighters that are getting a shot in the UFC or getting into the UFC because they’re a local golden boy,” Brum said. “They’re a local big-ticket seller or whatever, but they’re fighting journeymen.”

Brum refuses to be included in that journeyman category, and that’s exactly why this is such an important fight to him.

He knows Abiltarov has little to lose and everything to gain in the matchup, but that doesn’t raise the slightest concerns for the fearless Englishman, who insists he will step in the cage against any opponent, anywhere, at any time.

“He’s a very good fighter and I’m going over there to fight him basically in his backyard,” Brum said. “But it’s something I’m not afraid of. I’m not afraid to fight anyone.”

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